Customer Reviews

Devil's Backbone (Plainsman, 5)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first (and not last) book I've read by Johnston, and it was very good. At times it was hard to keep reading it, at times it was hard to put down. I'm very glad I read this, and I think anyone else interested in this time period should definetly pick this up. And of course read it.

This is fiction, with fictional primary characters, but it deals with very real events in American history. As a first book on the Modoc War I found it very easy reading and thus quite useful.

This entry of the "Plainsmen Series" takes readers to the California-Oregon border where hostilities between white settlers and Modocs are detailed in a fine narrative. The issue again is the dispute about land that both the Indians and homesteaders claim, obliging treaty commissioners to arbitrate, of course, on the side of the ranchers. Animosity between the whites and Modocs escalates and soon leads to military conflict. The story is replete with betrayals, not only of the peace commissioner General Canby, but of Modoc chief Captain Jack by his own men who later received amnesty from the government by forcing the surrender of their erstwhile leader. The grueling campaign in the treacherous Lava Beds is where most of the skirmishes take place, but the Modoc fighting men, while cunning and fierce on the battlefield, are not portrayed in a very noble light. Seamus Donegan, on the trail of an uncle living in Lost River Valley, takes center stage in this bloody and thankless war of extermination of an Indian tribe.

Well researched! One of my favorite in the Plainsmen Series. I knew next to nothing of the Modoc War before reading. This book was not only informative but entertaining as well.

The complete Plainsmen Series by the late Terry C. Johnston, is an outstanding saga of the so called Indian Wars on the Great Plains (southern Oregon in this book). Mr. Johnston obviously did meticulous research for all his books. He presented the stories of these wars in an even handed manner. I absolutely enjoyed reading the series. It is ashamed Mr. Johnston passed away at such a young age. He was a very talented writer.